In Village of Skokie, 2020 BNA LA 1311, Arbitrator Sinclair Kossoff found that the employer did not violate the CBA when it denied an Officer’s bereavement pay request. The Union argued that vacation should be converted to bereavement leave when applicable. But the Arbitrator concluded that the Union position was not supported by CBA language.
In Tualatin Fire and Rescue District, 2020 BNA 1300, an Oregon Fire District implemented a 42-hour work schedule following failed negotiations with the International Association of Firefighters local representing a group of Oregon firefighters. Because the parties had specific CBA language requiring Union agreement for any schedule changes, Arbitrator Kenneth James Latsch ruled that Management violated the agreement when it implemented the new schedule without doing first gaining Union approval and ordered the payment of overtime as an appropriate remedy.
In Department of the Airforce, Arbitrator John Nicholas determined that a government employer had a right to set firefighter mustache standards because they had an effect on the employer’s ability to give fitness tests. The Union had filed a grievance because it felt the Department of the Air Force had applied the wrong rules under the CBA. The Arbitrator agreed that this was true, but also found that the union’s requested relief would incur additional costs—as a result, the best remedy was the employer simply applying the correct rule.
In Forest Preserve District of Cook County v. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 166, two Forest Preservation sergeants challenged the Forest District’s decision to withhold overtime opportunities from them. The sergeants attempted to work shifts during which only one other sergeant was scheduled. A previous order by the District indicated that two sergeants would always be scheduled for these shifts. Relying on this policy, the sergeants submitted their names for overtime shifts but were denied. The sergeant’s Union challenged the District and an arbitrator issued the sergeants an award. The District appealed and an Illinois appellate court upheld the arbitrator award.
In Town of Stratford (Connecticut), the City attempted to vacate an arbitration decision that had reinstated a police officer who was discharged for lying to an independent neurologist by withholding medical information about his seizures and alcohol abuse. The City argued that the police officer must be fired because there is a public policy against intentional dishonesty in connection with police employment. The Court agreed that while there was a public policy against intentional policy officer dishonesty in connection with employment, the dishonesty at issue here was not so extreme as to make the arbitrator’s award a violation of public policy.
In Island County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, Arbitrator Gary Axon found that the Employer, Island County, lacked just cause to terminate a deputy sheriff who had 13 years on the job for sexually harassing a coworker. He instead ordered a 30-day suspension and a final warning notice that future sexual harassment will result in termination.
In Island County Deputy Sheriff’s Guild, Arbitrator Gary Axon ordered that a Corrections Lieutenant be reinstated, but demoted to Officer. Arbitrator Axon held that the Sheriff terminated the Lieutenant without Just Cause because she was fired for not following rules that the Jail management had never implemented and that would have been impossible to follow as written.
In the City of Bay City, a arbitrator ruled that Michigan Fire Department’s unilateral implementation of a new social media policy for firefighters was appropriate under the management rights clause as it was within managements purview to give employees guidance on their conduct. However, the arbitrator did find the provision which required firefighters to report violations of the policy or else face discipline as being unreasonable and therefore unenforceable.
In Cuyahoga County Court, an arbitrator ruled that County did not meet its burden of proving just cause when it fired a detention officer for insubordination and excessive force. The arbitrator found that it was improper to fire the officer for insubordination because he did not explicitly understand the order, and he was not informed of the consequences of failing to follow the order. The arbitrator also ruled the court did not have just cause to discharge the officer for excessive force when he was only defending himself.
In the City of Forest Lake, an arbitrator ruled that a Minnesota city did not violate its collective bargaining agreement when it required Officers who attended training on their days of to “flex” their work hours to limit overtime. Despite the fact that the Union tried to official repudiate the practice in bargaining the arbitrator found that this policy was not something that union was able to repudiate.
